1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to protective sleeving for elongate members, and more particularly to woven textile sleeves.
2. Related Art
Elongate members, such as wires or wire harnesses commonly require protection from potential external sources of abrasion. Accordingly, it is common to dispose a protective sleeve over the elongate members to provide protection against damage from abrasion and other potentially harmful conditions, such as contamination. It is known to use convolute or corrugated tubing to protect elongate members against abrasion, particularly if the potential for abrasion is relatively severe, such as from passing the elongate members through an opening having sharp corners or edges. Unfortunately, although corrugated tubing can provide the relatively good protection against abrasion, the tubing is relatively costly to manufacture, and it is typically stiff and thus, it can be difficult to route over serpentine paths or around corners. In addition, the rigid walls of the corrugated tubing can provide an internal source of abrasion to the very elongate members it is intended to protect, particularly if contaminates, such as oil and sand, come between the elongate members and the inner wall of the tubing.
As a result of the drawbacks of corrugated tubing, of which some are discussed above, other types of protective tubing are used to protect elongate members, such as textile sleeves. Textile sleeves are typically much easier to route over serpentine paths and can be less expensive to manufacture than corrugated sleeving. In addition, textile sleeves are typically softer and thus, present less of a likelihood of causing abrasion damaged to the elongate members. However, a recognized drawback to textile sleeves is that they have a reduced capacity to provide abrasion resistance protection to the elongate members from an external source of abrasion, particularly sharp corners and edges. Sharp surfaces that come into contact with the textile sleeve wall in a generally perpendicular direction are particularly damaging to the fabric of the sleeve. Over time, if the wall is cut by the sharp edge, then the elongate members become exposed and unprotected.
Accordingly, benefits and drawbacks are associated with both hard shelled tubing, such as convolute metal or plastic tubing and textile sleeves. What is needed is a protective sleeving that provides the benefits of both, while eliminating their potential drawbacks.